Asian market opened the new week with gains as a precious metal becomes the new centre of attention.
After four straight sessions of losses, MSCI’s broadest Asia Pacific Index outside Japan hiked as much as 1.4%.
Following the upward trend, Nikkei 225 managed to reverse Friday’s losses after hiking 1.55% at close trade. The Japanese bourse ended last week with a painful 2% drop.
Among the day’s biggest gainers are Paper & Pulp, Transportation, and Real Estate sectors.
In the Tokyo Stock Exchange, ascending stocks outnumbered the descending ones by 2235 to 1297, and more than 200 others remained unchanged.
In an update on Chinese stocks, blue chips hiked by 0.5% after the People’s Bank of China decided to inject more cash into the country’s money markets.
The Shanghai Composite Index traded steadily while the Shenzhen Component jumped by 0.62% to 2,349.61 points.
Shares in firms related to the controversial HNA Group suffered painful setbacks during the day as creditors filed for bankruptcy.
Hainan Airlines fell by 9.80% to 1.38 CNY per share in Shanghai after reports circulated.
Other firms affected by the curb include HNA Innovation, HNA Technology, and CCOOP Group, among others.
Earlier, reports surfaced linking the conglomerate with a money embezzlement scheme amounting to $10 billion by the shareholders of its three units.
Meanwhile, the Hang Seng index hiked by more than 530 points to 28, 822.21, up by 1.91% for Monday.
Among the biggest gainers include Tencent, which surpassed HK$700 per share. Alibaba Group also made significant strides for the day after a 1.53% hike to HK$250 per share.
Surprisingly, the reason behind Asia’s upbeat Monday session is silver. The unprecedented shift towards the metal ignites investors’ appetite to diversify their portfolios.
EU Bourses Opened Higher
It is not only the Pacific that is in a jovial mood over the surge in the precious metal. EU bourses also opened the week upbeat.
Germany’s DAX futures hiked by 0.8% while France’s CAC 40 futures contract jumped by 0.7%.
In the United Kingdom, the FTSE contract recorded a 0.7% increase in early session.
On Wall Street, the market is still apprehensive about the continuation of the short-selling curb, particularly on GameStop, AMC, and BlackBerry Shares.
Analysts noted that the focus would remain on the movements of the involved firms as long as the situation smolders.
Meanwhile, while silver prices managed to hike as much as 6% on Monday, experts cautioned traders to be careful as the phenomenon might be short-lived.
